Falmouth considers pros, cons of artificial field surface

Whether the surface of a new multi-purpose sports field will be synthetic turf or natural grass is still up for grabs.

Christine Legere @ChrisLegereCCT

FALMOUTH — School officials are preparing to make another run at securing a new multi-purpose sports field on the high school campus to replace the tattered Guv Fuller Field near the Gus Canty Recreation Center.

But whether the surface will be synthetic turf or natural grass is still up for grabs.

Schools Superintendent Nancy Taylor recently established a new committee to hammer out the field plan, and the issue of turf or grass will be the first thing they grapple with, including the results of a brief report produced by the chairman of the town's Board of Health on available studies of health effects from playing on the artificial field surface.

In 2014, a proposal for an artificial turf field at the high school was shot down during a ballot vote, based on financial concerns rather than any questions about potential health effects. The plan was competing with some high priced water projects at the time.

But while the use of artificial turf wasn’t an issue of great concern in 2014, some anecdotal reports since then have claimed a link between certain cancers and play on the turf.

Scientific studies so far have discounted that connection, concluding any toxins in the turf were at levels too low to present a health risk. Statistical reviews have concluded there haven’t been higher cancer rates found in athletes who play on turf than those found in the general population.

Artificial turf is more durable, which allows for more play, requires less maintenance, and it is already used in several Cape school districts, including Barnstable, Monomoy and Sandwich. There are more than 11,000 turf fields nationwide.

“When we started looking at this three years ago, there were 60 schools in the area with turf,” said Falmouth High School Athletic Director Kathleen Burke. “We are one of the few that don’t have turf.”

Falmouth’s athletic fields are generally in poor to fair shape, according to a recent study paid for with Community Preservation Act money.

Overuse is a big problem, so the study recommended adding nine grass fields or three artificial turf fields.

“We need to do something,” Burke said. “Artificial turf gives you more use. If you’re trying to maximize use, you go with artificial.”

Taylor said she and the multipurpose field committee asked the local Board of Health to take a look at studies on artificial turf.

“We want to make sure, moving forward, that we are doing the right thing,” Taylor said.

One component of the artificial turf — tiny particulates of pulverized tires known as tire crumb and used to cushion impact and anchor the synthetic grass — contains an array of toxic chemicals, volatile compounds and heavy metals, which can get into the air as well as leach into groundwater.

But Health board Chairman Jared Goldstone concluded in his report, which is expected to be provided to the school committee today, according to available studies to date, “no significant health risk has been documented, including no increase in cancer risk for athletes playing on turf.”

The rate of substantial injury is lower on turf than grass, but the possibility of toe sprains and skin abrasions was higher, according to Goldstone's report. The good news is there is less chance of getting a serious infection on artificial turf.

Burke said the Guv Fuller field isn’t exactly sanitary.

“It’s swampy and has a problem with geese” and their droppings, she said.

The artificial turf fields currently in use on the Cape don’t appear to have generated the public concerns that have swirled around their use elsewhere.

Scott Thomas, Barnstable High School’s athletic director, said the artificial turf field at the high school is in its seventh year of use.

“I have never fielded a phone call or complaint on this,” Thomas said. “There has been discussion among coaches, but there has never been any serious talk.”

The artificial turf field at Monomoy Regional High School has been in use since 2013.

“I don’t recall any parents having any concerns,” said Principal William Burkhead.

Coaches agree it has not been an issue, the high school’s interim Athletic Director Karen Guillemette said.

The effects of the turf's chemicals on ground and surface water due to run-off have not yet been thoroughly evaluated. Connecticut’s Department of Environmental Protection has suggested using storm-water treatment measures, according to Goldstone.

Towns looking at installing artificial fields frequently turn to state health officials for guidance, said Marc Nascarella, chief toxicologist for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Environmental Health.

“In the course of the past year, we’ve been asked about a half dozen times by boards of health,” Nascarella said.

The agency provides information, but “DPH is not in a position to say whether it’s a good idea or a bad idea,” he said. “The concerns are the ingestion of the chrome rubber in the same way a player might get dirt in the mouth.”

Studies done to date conclude that an athlete’s exposure via ingestion, inhalation or skin contact while playing on artificial turf presented minimal health risk, according to the Department of Public Health.

“Environmental concerns should be considered when it’s in an area like the Cape with its sole source aquifer,” Nascarella said. “Public water sources should be tested as well as private wells.”

The number of requests for information has prompted the agency to post a “frequently asked questions” about turf on its website.

In its answers, the agency notes that available studies show that although turf components contain chemicals, “exposure opportunities at levels measured do not suggest health effects are likely.”

Existing studies have not comprehensively evaluated health risks specifically related to exposure to tire crumb, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission began such a study in February 2016.

That study is expected to be completed some time this year.

In Falmouth, Taylor said she will take a small but essential step in the process at an upcoming school committee meeting: getting the committee’s permission to move the school’s football field from the Gus Canty location to the high school campus.